Heavy duty wireless apps will shift to DSP

The inherent flexibility of programmability of DSPs will shove ASICs into the back seat.

IMS Research’s latest report, "The Worldwide Cellular Infrastructure Report6th Edition," has some interesting observations that go well beyond the bailiwick of cellular infrastructure.

IMS predicts that DSPs will gobble up an increasing number of onboard functions thanks mostly to the inherent programmability and flexibility of DSP architectures.

For example, the DSP market for W-CDMA if forecast to grow with a CAGR of 18 percent over the next four years. On the other hand, ASIC shipments for the same technology will limp along (relatively speaking) at an average of 7.3 percent per year over the same period.